The present invention relates to a vending box or cabinet of the general type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,250 and Design No. 414,515 and which are used for vending or dispensing newspapers, magazines or other paper publications. The cabinets are usually free standing on a floor or sidewalk and are sometimes manufactured by rotomolding a thermoplastics material while the material is heated in order to form a one-piece hollow body or cabinet. The cabinet has an upper portion with an inner compartment defining a chamber for receiving a stack of the publications and a lower portion which receives a flowable ballast material such as sand or gravel or water. The ballast material adds substantial weight to the hollow cabinet and prevents the cabinet from being shifted or tilted by a normal external force such as a strong wind.
The ballast material is poured into the lower hollow portion of the cabinet through an opening or port cut into a bottom wall of the inner compartment which encloses the publications. A spring biased pivotal door normally closes a front access opening for the inner compartment for protecting the stack of publications within the compartment. However, it is awkward, time consuming and messy to add the ballast material through the port within the bottom wall of the inner compartment while holding the door in its open position.